J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8)

Margaret, who had a lively imagination and warm heart, was all on fire. She spoke to the worldlings of that 'peace of God which passeth all understanding.' She said to the friends of the Gospel: 'The Almighty will graciously complete what he has graciously begun through us.' She added: 'I will spend myself in it.' She excited and stirred up everybody about her, and the crowded congregations of the Louvre were in great measure the result of her incessant activity. She knew how by a word or a message to attract courtiers whose only thoughts were of debauchery, and catholics whose only wish was for the pope. Like a sabbath-bell, she called Paris to hear the voice of God, and drew the crowd. Possessing in the highest degree, so long as her brother did not check it, that energy which women often show in religious matters, she was resolved to prosecute her work and win the prize of the contest.

She returned to her first idea. She said to herself that the best way to effect a reform in the Church without occasioning a schism, was for the Gospel to be preached in the churches of Paris and of France. The ceremonies of the Roman worship and the jurisdiction of the bishops would remain, but Christ would be proclaimed. This system, which was fundamentally that of Melanchthon and even of Luther at this time, 285she did her best to realise. The victory she had just achieved at the Louvre doubled her courage; she determined to have the churches which had been refused to her at first. She therefore began to work upon the king, and, as he was thinking only of his alliances with Henry VIII. and the protestants, she obtained from him an order authorising the Bishop of Paris to appoint whom he pleased to preach in his diocese. 286The prelate, who was a brother of the diplomatist Du Bellay, passed like him for a friend of the Reformation. At Margaret's request he named two evangelical Augustine monks—Courault and Berthaud. 'Strange!' said the public voice; 'here are men of the order to which Luther belonged going to preach the doctrine of the great reformer in the capital of France.' All the evangelicals were overjoyed and wrote to their friends everywhere that 'Paris was supplied with three excellent preachers, announcing the truth ... with a little more boldness than was customary.' 287

=ESSENCE OF EVANGELICAL PREACHING.=

Courault, a sincere scriptural christian, who did not participate in Margaret's subtleties, preached at St. Saviour's. The inhabitants of the quarter of St. Denis and from other parts crowded to this church. Many persons who had said of the preachings at the Louvre, 'They are not for us,' hastened to the place which belonged to the people. The man who occupied the pulpit was about the middle age; he did not possess Roussel's grace, he was even somewhat rough, and preached the Gospel without reserve and without disguise. His lively and aggressive style, his expressive and rather threatening gestures arrested attention. He attacked unsparingly the errors of the Church and the vices of christians. Courault did not come, as the Roman preachers had done up to that very hour, to impose on his hearers certain laws, ceremonies, and acts of worship by means of which they could be reconciled to God and merit his favour. He spoke not of feasts, or of dedications, or of customs, or of those mechanical prayers and chantings, in which the understanding and the heart have no share, and with which the Church burdened believers. He had a special horror of all that mixes up the worship of the creature with the adoration of God, and would not suffer the perfect work of Christ to be obscured by the invocation of other mediators. He preached that the true worship of the New Testament was faith in the Gospel, and the love which proceeds from faith; that it was communion with Christ, patience under the cross, and a holy activity in doing good, accompanied by the constant prayers of the heart. This preaching, so new in the capital, attracted an immense crowd. The enthusiasm was universal. 'This man is in the first rank among good men,' was the general opinion. 288'He is like a sentinel on a tower who, with his eyes fixed on the east, proclaims that the sun, so long hidden, will shine at last upon the earth.' 289Light beamed from Courault's discourses. His sight was weak, and in after years, during his exile in Switzerland, where he was Calvin's colleague, he became quite blind; but his language was always marked by great clearness. It was said of him that 'although blind he enlightens the soul.' 290Among his hearers was Louis du Tillet, Calvin's friend, and the youthful canon was deeply excited by the living faith of the aged Augustine. 'Oh! what piety I found in him!' he exclaimed on a later occasion. 291

Berthaud, the other preacher named by the bishop, subsequently deserted the Gospel and died a canon of Besançon: so that each of them reminds us of our Saviour's words: There shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left . 292

These evangelical preachings in the palace of the king and in the churches of Paris were important facts, and there has been nothing like it since in France. The alarm was consequently at its height. People asked whether the sentinels of the Church were asleep, and whether the bark of St. Peter would founder, while the Gospel ship seemed floating onwards in full sail.

=AGITATION OF THE SORBONNE.=

But the doctors of the Sorbonne were not asleep; on the contrary, they were on the watch, they sent their spies into the evangelical assemblies, received their reports, and took counsel together every day. The members of this society, the principal, the prior, the senior, the recorder, the professors, the proctors, and the librarians declared boldly and unanimously that all was lost if they did not make haste to check the evil. The evangelicals and the men of letters were informed of these fanatical discussions. 'What a horde of scribes and pharisees!' they exclaimed. 293But that did not stop the horde. 'What must be done?' they asked; and Beda replied: 'Let the preachers be seized and put to death like Berquin.' Some, more moderate or more politic, knowing that Roussel was preaching by order of the king's sister, shrank from this proposal, fearing they would offend their sovereign. 294'What foolish policy!' exclaimed Beda, 'what ineffable cowardice!... Is not the Sorbonne the oracle of Europe? Shall it render ambiguous answers, like the pagan oracles of old?'

Beda prevailed, and Roussel was denounced to the king. 'Apply to my chancellor,' said Francis, who did not wish to say either yes or no. The Sorbonne delegates then waited upon Duprat. 'Apply to the bishop,' said the cardinal, who was afraid of displeasing the king. The Sorbonnists went to their diocesan, rather anxious about the reception they would receive from him; and with good reason, for the liberal Du Bellay only laughed at them. 295The exasperated but indefatigable doctors now turned to the first president, who was one of their party; but that magistrate, believing the Sorbonne to be in disgrace, was not anxious to support their cause. The wrath of the doctors now became unbounded. Would there no longer be any justice in France for the champions of the papacy? The friends of letters, who had carefully noted all these repulses, smiled at the confusion of the priests; and Sturm in particular, the reviver of learning at Strasburg, and now professor at Paris, did not spare them: 'Look at these Thersites !' he said, comparing them to the ugliest, most cowardly, and most ridiculous of the Grecian host at Troy. 'They are at the end of their tether and cannot succeed,' continued Sturm; 'for those who can help them will not, and those who will cannot.' 296

The doctors of the Sorbonne now lost all moderation. 'The king,' said they, 'who publicly supports the heretics, his sister and the Archbishop of Paris, who protect them, are as guilty as they.' Orders were sent through all the camp: every pulpit became a volcano. Furious declamations, superstitious sermons, scholastic discourses, violent and grotesque speeches—the supporters of Rome made use of all. 'Do you know what an heretical minister is?' asked a monk. 'He is a pig in a pulpit, decorated with cap and surplice, and preaching to a congregation ... of asses.' 297